Friday Review (1/10/25)
Each week we compile a list of helpful articles from other sites, in a variety of categories, for youth workers to read, reflect on, and/or discuss with parents and volunteers. If you have any articles you’d like to suggest, we’d love for you to share those in the Youth Pastor Theologian Facebook group. That’s a great way to bring them to our attention and to discuss them with like-minded youth workers! (Inclusion in this list does not imply complete agreement with the publishing source, but we have found these articles to be beneficial.)
Youth Ministry
How Is God Working in the New Generation?, by Amy-Jo Girardier (Lifeway Research)
After my terrible but life-changing meeting with Gen Z in 2015, the Lord woke me up to see and pursue His people in each generation differently. From studying research to seeing it firsthand as I observed students, I began to see Gen Z needed to be led differently than I was seeking to lead them.
Preparing Your Child to Stay Rooted in the Local Church During College: A Gospel-Centered Guide for Parents, by Michael Ruamthong (Rooted)
The transition from home to college is more than a logistical challenge—it’s a defining moment in your child’s spiritual life. As someone who has served in college ministry for several years and currently serves as a college ministry director at a local church, I have the privilege of walking alongside students and witnessing the profound impact of this season on their faith. I also know the deep yearning of parents who want their children to find a church home and stay rooted in Christ during this new chapter.
Biblical & Theological Studies
A Primer on Roman Catholic Apologetics Targeting Evangelicals, by Leonardo De Chirico (Vatican Files)
The call to the “new evangelization” by John Paul II and Benedict XVI has repositioned a growing number of Roman Catholics from being recipients of evangelical zeal to becoming active players of “catholic” evangelization. Today, it is no longer evangelicals who “evangelize” Catholics, but it is also Catholics who “evangelize” evangelicals with targeted and planned initiatives. Apologetic efforts are now bidirectional.
Cultural Reflection & Contextualization
The Pump Don't Work Cause the Vandals Broke the Handle, by Samuel D. James (Digital Liturgies)
For all the ways in which mainstream society still rewards conformity and punishes those who diverge, it’s simply true that “nonconformity” (which in many cases is mere conformity to an impolite standard) has never been easier or less risky than now. Think of a category of existence, and you can find dozens of laws, rules of language, political orthodoxies, and social dogmas that enforce consideration of and even deference to those who are different.
I'm No Gambler, by Malinda Just
But a funny thing is, despite my aversion to casinos, I’ve found myself addicted to a different kind of slot machine: social media.
Pastoral Ministry
Why Trying to Craft Perfect Sermons Will Lead to Pastoral Burnout, by David Haywood (Pastors & Productivity)
One of the biggest threats to long-term effectiveness in pastoral ministry is burnout, and one of the biggest threats to burnout is perfectionism tendencies in sermon preparation. Perfectionism in sermon preparation seems honorable, but it’s not. It’s a recipe for either anxiety or burnout or both.
How Healthy Is Your Soul?, by Scott Hubbard (Desiring God)
We are changeable creatures in a long war, called to “resist the devil” not for a day or a week or a year but a life (James 4:7). And spiritual health yesterday does not guarantee spiritual health today. So, at the end of a new year, on the edge of another, let’s stop to take some spiritual vitals. How healthy is your soul?
Discipleship in the Reformed World, by Ryan Denton (Reformation21)
But we should also be willing to acknowledge our weaknesses and to seek to correct and address them. One of these areas of weakness is discipleship, especially when it comes to those who are new to the faith or less cultured and refined in their mannerisms or bearings.
Family & Parents
Identifying Our Parenting Idols, by Kristen Hatton (New Growth Press)
For some of us what is most important to us—even before God—are things like our appearance, accomplishments, or reputation. Or what we hold most precious might be our wealth, education, career, talent, home, community, or vacation. It could also be a relationship, perhaps with our spouse, a friend, and, maybe most often, with our children. An idol can also be our desire for safety, need for order, or drive toward perfectionism.
Helping Kids Value Perseverance, by Connie Leung Nelson (Rooted)
We want our kids to be resilient and hardy, ready to face challenges. But our perseverance as Christians is so much more than eating bitterness to become gritty or enduring pain for our own gain. We who belong to Jesus must, can, and will persevere, because our Savior who loves us holds us fast forever (Jude 24).
From YPT this week
The Inspiration of Scripture: What’s it Mean for the Bible to Be the Word of God? by Jason Engle
But what does it mean that the Bible is “God’s Word?” and what difference does that make to the way we minister to youth?